Harnessing the Power of iPSCs and ‘omics to Understand Neurodegenerative Diseases 

Presented by Michael E. Ward, MD, PhD; Investigator National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Co-Director for iPCS Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (iNDI)
Dr. Ward received his B.S. from Kenyon College in 1999 and MD and PhD. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. As a graduate student, he worked in Yi Rao’s lab and studied the regulation of cell migration during neurodevelopment. Following a neurology residency at the University of California in San Francisco, he sub-specialized in behavioral neurology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Li Gan’s lab studying basic mechanisms of frontotemporal dementia (FTD). As a fellow he received an American Brain Foundation CRTF award and a NIH K08 career development award. In 2015 he joined the NINDS as an Assistant Clinical Investigator, and became an Investigator in 2017. Using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)s as a cellular model, his research group focuses on identifying intersecting mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, with an ultimate goal of developing targeted, disease-modifying therapies for affected patients. In addition to his research efforts, he sees patients with neurodegenerative disorders in the NIH Clinical Center, and co-directs the iPSC Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (iNDI), a large-scale effort to generate and phenotype iPSC models of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.